Disclaimer:
This one was not chosen by me. I did a Facebook poll, and this one was chosen. If this offends anyone, blame the voters.
Now, we start the theory.
This theory is going to sound crazy, but I did a lot of research during the past week. So, to my best ability, it will be conclusive. We have four parts. Each one deals with Max from Sharkboy and LavaGirl. They include his mindset, his abilities (sleeping or otherwise), his background, and a hidden connection I found on the final day of preparing for this theory. Let us begin.
So, to start, his mindset is surprisingly mature for what could be considered an elementary schooler. There are things that point to him being at a level of maturity most adults lack. Specifically in regards to his notes on the "dream journal". It is also kept up to date, which surprised me. Most children have no care for this unless told by a doctor or their parents. Yet, he willingly does it, even to the point of descriptions about each " person" in the dream. However, he also is the only child I have seen that did not develop a god complex after finding out his dreams are a reality (this is in any medium). This all points to his mature nature, even despite the reaction to the journal being tampered with (due to the reaction being an emotional instinct rather than thought-based).
Now we get to his abilities. While he sleeps, he easily is precognitive. Yet, he also has an odd ability to create what he dreams with and without his knowledge. Such examples include the titular characters and an entire planet for things he knew, but what surprises me is the unconscious thought process that fills in the gaps without him knowing. There are moments throughout the movie that point to him creating things without any conscious thought put into it, these include the giant happy versions of his parents that his mind created to eat cookies and, oddly enough, the children on the planet itself. They were created because they were needed for his dreams to be more realistic, and LavaGirl herself says that. That is all for dreaming, but what about his waking moments. Well, there is truly only one moment to pull from, but it has 3 points. In specific, his creation of the necklace and the use for it. Somehow while he was dreaming, his mind created the necklace and brought the villain to life. All this during a dream that changed everything for him. And the last point will give more insight into this.
For now, we do the background. So, to start, his parents were on the verge of divorce. He also lives near a school zone, literally a few blocks. Lastly, the school board apparently does not care for the children because they did not cancel due to a tornado threat. However, according to his parents, this school is not his first. Is it odd that someone in elementary school switched schools? No. Is it odd they switched to a school down the street from the first one. Maybe. Is it odd a parent can't keep the school straight? A little. Is it odd that when putting everything together you get two schools within 5 blocks of each other with the same grade levels that these parents are dead center between and decided to switch their kid's school from one to another? A lot. This literally hints at what could have happened in another Robert Rodriguez film.
The last point will help everything make sense. So, if you watch the ending credits scene of Spy Kids All The Time In The World, you get a callback to Sharkboy and LavaGirl. One of the "children" in the OSS database is Max, older, but still recognizable. However, how was he in it? We have seen the OSS be more generational rather than actively recruiting new members. Could it mean Max's parents were in the OSS? Well, from a scene in Spy Kids 3D, we see a man who resembles the father, in the only other Robert Rodriguez film that involves the mind. This would place Max into the database and offer some explanation for his dream based powers. Yet, the final blow came in the same movie. Junie was told a sentence that changed the OSS in my mind. He was told, "There is no retirement. Once an agent, always an agent." What could this mean?
The conclusion I came to with this evidence was that each OSS scientist may have a habit of cultivating research and taking it home. Max's father could have taken tech from the site during the final fight, and gotten away during the commotion. Then, with spy movie guidelines, he would have been relocated to another location. This would be after Max was born, and Max would be an unwilling test subject. Dark? Keep reading. So, his father would then see the light, but too late for Max to go without side effects. Thus Max, being at age 5 by this time, would receive the "dream journal" as a way to check into his son's mental progress. By the time the movie starts, his father has let it slip to his wife, and both are on the verge of divorce due to his father's actions. Throughout the 3-5 years between, Max changed schools twice to keep the family safe. The ending to the movie gives you clarification on what happens up to any future OSS related works. Max is able to control his abilities, and the family can be together because Max is no longer a danger. And Max was added to the OSS database at an early age, due to his father, but without any description of his abilities until the tornados hit. Max's school even worked with the OSS by not canceling classes as a way to test Max (which is why his parents are happy to stay since his father was reinstated).
Once again, all theory, but pretty sound by most standards. Next one in two weeks.